About the Kellys

Arthur and Nancy Kelly

Arthur C.M. & Nancy V. Kelly.

The 1999 color photo shows us at one of our favorite activities, square and round dancing. We are members of the Square Dance Camping Association and we dance with the Leprechaun Club in Brooksville, FL as well as dancing in New York . We are very fond of round dancing and are now level 4 dancers which means we can enjoy many of the different rhythms available. The activity is great exercise and we meet so many nice friends!

Here is a bit about each of us:

• ARTHUR KELLY, FGBS has been transcribing and indexing New York State source records since 1968. A graduate of Cornell University, he studied Biology and Chemistry and brings the scientist's zeal for accuracy and detail to his work in genealogy. For 30 years, he taught high school science in Germantown, NY, the area originally known as the East Camp of the 1709 Palatine settlement of German immigrants. His interest in genealogy led him to examine the early church records of that area. Family history researchers know that New York, unlike the New England states, has few published civil vital records. Therefore, genealogists have come to rely heavily on church records of baptisms, marriages and deaths to assemble family information. Realizing this, Mr. Kelly decided to begin a project of organizing and publishing records to make them available for research. Mr. Kelly gained the confidence of local ministers so that he was allowed to work with the original records, and with his knowledge of old German Script, began the project of transcribing the records, publishing them and indexing them, according to item number. Transcripts were made from original church records so future researchers could compare them with the Vosburg transcripts which the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society had prepared some fifty years earlier. He has published over 300 volumes of church, cemetery, newspaper and other records through KINSHIP.

• NANCY KELLY, FGBS has always had an interest in history and genealogy. She was a charter member of the Rhinebeck Historical Society and the Dutchess County Genealogical Society and is currently the Rhinebeck Town Historian. Articles she has written include: "Researching Palatines in NY State", The Palatine Immigrant, Vol. X, p.3-21. "Rhinebeck Transition at the End of the Eighteenth Century", Hudson Valley Review and Contributions to The Capital and The Columbia, quarterly publications of Kinship. She is the author of two books, A Brief History of Rhinebeck published by the Wise Family Press in 2001 and Rhinebeck's Historic Architecture published by History Press in 2009.

Nancy has given talks at many conferences:

New York State Genealogical Conference, 1983

Eastern Ontario Genealogical Society

Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society

Central New York Genealogical Society

Michigan Palatines to America Society

National Palatines to America Society

Many Florida Genealogical Societies

Local Historical and Genealogical Societies and D.A.R. Chapters

She is a graduate of Cornell University and majored in education but currently is devoting all of her efforts to Kinship. She manages the various publishing projects and enjoys the aspects of research and computing necessary to complete each publication.